Chapter 9 - THE CALL FROM THE STREET

Lorenzo dialed back. The number was already disconnected.

Rachel traced it to a prepaid phone that had connected briefly near a bus terminal in Queens. By the time officers reached the area, Isabella was gone.

Lorenzo went there anyway. He stood beneath the terminal’s bright lights, watching strangers cross the pavement. Every dark coat made him turn.

Mason found him beside the ticket windows.

“She reached you,” Mason said.

“For three seconds.”

“She’s trying.”

“She sounded afraid.”

“Then let Rachel’s team work.”

Lorenzo hated the advice because Mason was right.

At the station, technicians recovered audio from the end of Isabella’s call. After the words “Don’t trust,” there was a horn, a man shouting nearby, and Isabella pulling away from the phone. No one could tell whether she had meant to name a person or warn Lorenzo about his calls being monitored.

Rachel followed leads from Anthony’s statement. The locked house had already been cleared, but investigators found medical packaging and one of Isabella’s fingerprints. They found another location where someone had recently bought antibiotics, canned food, and dog food with cash.

Vincent, meanwhile, came to Lorenzo’s office without an appointment.

“I hear the police arrested Anthony,” he said.

“They did.”

“He worked for us once. That will put the company in the news.”

“It will.”

Vincent watched him. “You think I’m involved.”

“I’m waiting to hear what the evidence says.”

For the first time in twenty-two years, Vincent smiled at Lorenzo like a stranger.

“You always needed someone to tell you what was happening in your own company.”

Lorenzo rose from his chair. “Get out.”

Vincent stepped closer. “If Isabella’s alive, ask yourself why she stayed away from you.”

Lorenzo held still until Vincent left.

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That night, Mason confirmed a second unauthorized security login. It had opened cameras outside Sophia’s old room and Isabella’s dressing room. The account belonged to a current employee: Mason’s deputy, Paul Heller.

Before police could question him, Paul’s car was found abandoned by the river. Inside lay his phone and a fresh smear of blood.